Retardation and Misting

I have finished reading the Reinhold (BBA)and Beranbaum books on bread and would like to know what the resident pros such as: FloydM, SourdoLady, Mountaindog, Jim, Jeffrey, et. al. actually normally do when it comes to retardation and misting.

With retardation: do you put it in the frig after the first or second proofing or not at all? And with misting: do you do pans and the spraying? For just a simple home baker with an electric stove it seems very risky re: blowing out the coils and cracking the front window. I am a novice and you folks are the real pros so I am trying to separate the ideal world of the books from the real world that you folks actually bake in. Thanks...